New Delhi. India may launch lightweight US satellites if the two governments agree.

Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defence and aerospace corporation, held informational discussions with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and its export arm, Antrix recently and this was one of the points for possible cooperation.
Lockheed Martin's India Chief Executive Roger Rose told India Strategic that while it follows the US Government lead in space activities, it regularly holds discussions to learn more about individual companies and their capabilities.
Rose noted that India has a strong and growing space industry that has great potential for future cooperation. It was suggested that one area that could be explored is using Indian capabilities in low-cost launch, as ISRO has displayed a commendable track record in this regard. Other possibilities that could be examined include cooperation on manned space flights.
Lockheed Martin noted, however, that any cooperation beyond these kinds of informational discussions would be subject to an overall policy and agreement framework acceptable to both the Indian and United States governments and compatible with U.S. export control regulations.
Rose said that senior executives from Lockheed Martin had visited Bangalore in August during a space conference and held introductory discussions with ISRO and Antrix.
Commercially, it would be a win-win situation for both sides. And if cooperation between the two countries grew substantially, Indian companies could also become part of a global supply chain with Lockheed Martin, Rose said.
At present, ISRO is on the US "Entities List" due to which US companies cannot share hi-tech dual technology as defined by the Department of Commerce. New Delhi has already asked Washington to remove ISRO, as well as the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), from that blacklist, to make bilateral cooperation meaningful.
This entities list issue is likely to figure during US President Barack Obama's visit to India next month.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 136,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation's 2009 sales were $44.5 billion.

With the US still in the process of finalising export reforms on commercial satellites by restructuring the US Munitions List on spacecraft, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is not expecting to see a much anticipated Commercial Satellites Launch Agreement (CSLA) inked during the visit of US President Barack Obama later this week.

The CSLA, seen as a progression on a Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) signed in July 2009 during the visit of the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will allow US commercial satellites or satellites with US components to be launched on ISRO space vehicles, significantly opening up the nearly $2 billion global space launch business for India.

The CSLA has been on the negotiating table for high technology partnerships between the two countries for a long time now and is considered by ISRO officials to be close to agreement.As part of an export reform initiative started by Obama, an export control task force in the US is engaged in an exercise of restructuring the US Munitions List on spacecraft offering ISRO hope of a CSLA in the near future.

At present, under the TSA signed last year, ISRO can only launch civil or non-commercial satellites with US components. Commercial satellite launches are on a case by case basis and the CSLA is expected to change this to cover all future commercial satellite launches.

Commercial satellites are considered to be primarily big ticket communication satellites.

â€œThere is no agreement to be signed for us during the US Presidentâ€™s visit unless something comes up during the course of meetings. We have not drawn up anything,â€ ISRO spokesperson S Satish said.

At the end of the day economics will decide the satellite launching agreements. India has the track record for having one of the lowest cost satellite launches through the PSLV. It is a win win situation for both the countries, as the US needs to reduce it's costs and free up it's launch capabilities for bigger satellites and other probe missions.

^^ With the hell broken loose on Obama's head about outsourcing this sort of a critical activity, US voters will rip him apart if they hear about space launches also being outsourced. NASA's not in good shape and if Obama wants to keep his space agency active, then he will have to slice costs down through outsourcing--something common US citizens might not understand.

Another thing is that the general US establishments should not be so paranoid about someone stealing their technology especially India. Russia for example shares a huge deal of sensitive technology with us; we don't go copying them and claiming their work as ours. Then why is US so obsessed with such insecurities especially when India has an excellent track record on upholding IPR agreements? If power is getting costly to handle, in order to give it a chance to remain, US has to let go of some of it. Retaining every bit of it despite knowing the difficulties would mean trouble in long term and the possibility of losing all of its power in coming future.